P.S.

I never saw the balloon lady!

How did I do?

So the race was Sunday.

It was awesome! That was one of the best experiences of my life and I will definately be participating in another half, maybe a full marathon, the future!!

My finish time was actually faster than I thought, 2:32:20. In women 25-29, I finished 214, overall I finished 2294 (that's out of 2954 people), I finished 1,040 out of all women and ranked 214 for my first half-marathon.

There were so many people! I don't think I've ever seen that many people before in my life! I was running down one street and watching a herd of people run down another street a few blocks away from me, meanwhile, there is still a huge mass of people behind me! It was I.N.S.A.N.E!!!!

My favorite part was the two women playing "Eye of the Tiger" under the train tracks on there accordian. Oh, and the runner in the too-too. They were great!

Rattling Nerves

The race is Sunday! I'm so nervous!

I'm so excited at the same time! I can't believe it's already here!!

I've finished all the training and right now I'm tapering so the only thing I have left to do is run 13.1 miles!

I'm still dealing with some life changing events right now so I can't tell you how good this race has ended up being for me. It's really helped me through a difficult time in my life right now. I really don't care to go into any further detail about my life - eventhough this blog is about my personal life. But believe me, there are some funny stories going on right now that I will be able to laugh about until my sides hurt! I'm just not ready to discuss it, yet, and quite frankly, I'm not sure when I will be ready. Just pray for me! And pray I don't get injured this weekend!

I'm so excited! I hope I don't get stuck behind the balloon lady!

Pray for me

I am doing something new and different.

Something I have never done before.

I am trying something that means binding of the chest area.

I am going to try Jiu-Jitsu. Oh, yeah, baby! Don't mess with me!

Pray I don't break anything. The race is in less than two weeks! And I have a perpetual foot cramp. I'm getting very nervous! But I'm excited about learning how to kick your ass!!

I left my coffee up front

It's the end of 2008 and every body is getting ready to diet and exercise again. Haha! Good luck with that resolution, it will be nice working out with you new people for one or two days. Let me know how it works out for you!

Here's a great reason to get started now rather than cheat today: I gained 10 pounds on Christmas. Don't say it's just muscle, either, because I've already lost it again but - holy crow - TEN POUNDS in one day!

I weighed in on December 22, 2008. I register XXX on the scale. I ate perfect until Christmas Day, when I hate two peanut butter balls and some corn casserole. I weighed in again on December 26, 2008 and registered XXX+10.

I ran my tootie off! Drank lots of water and have religiously followed my diet with the exception of December 28, 2008 when I had another Christmas party. I now weigh XXX again. Sigh

I just hope that now after I got rid of what was probably a bunch of water weight and hormone side effects (nasty, mean ole aunt!) I won't be gaining it back again while I take the next two days off from my training regime. Hopefully, this pain in my hip will go away soon; or I'll be running with a bottle of Advil. I'm not missing this race.

Seriously, people, if you really want to get fit in 2009, don't wait until you've finished all of your cheating. Don't go buy new work out clothes just so you're motivated. Just go do it! It's not that hard! Start with walking a little bit every day, then walk some more, then jog. Lift a few weights but don't kill yourself or you will burn yourself out!

I am on the crash diet from hell, if you haven't noticed. Fortunately, I've been hitting the gym for awhile now so changing everything for my half-marathon goal wasn't as difficult as if I'd just started my first day on a treadmill after eating six Big Macs and a biggie fry the previous day! If you don't go to the gym now, your body's not accustomed to the tough stuff you think you have to do to succeed. Take your time, start slow and push yourself but don't kill yourself!

Weight loss and good health takes time. It's not like how the Democrats perceive our economy; it won't get better overnight. Your body is a machine and you have to keep it well oiled and spend some time and effort on it to get running properly. Take your time.

Here's my advice on how to succeed in the gym in 2009:

• Make a goal. I want to be able to run 1 mile without stopping. That's a great goal to start, then move to two miles and so on..
• Give yourself a cheat day. Once a week, go to Los Torascos and eat a chicken chimichanga for me, and dip it in a lot of that cheese sauce...oh, my mouth is watering...
• Schedule gym time. Find 20-30 minutes in the day and make that your gym time no matter what. Treat it like an appointment.
• Push yourself but don't kill yourself. Every work out needs to be a challenge but if you are seeing spots in your eyes when you are doing cardio, you are working too hard! Work on the Perceived exertion scale of 1-10, 10 being the hardest and feeling like you are about to die! Try to keep it between 5-8.
• Get a partner. Nothing helps more than having someone meet you at the gym and push you when you can get one more rep. You don't want to stand them up, either. Bad form.
• Reward yourself for the small things. Weight loss will never happen overnight. When you lose your first five pounds, go buy a shirt or jewelry or something. Give yourself a pat on the back for the hard work. Five pounds really is a lot to lose considering one pound = 3500 calories (or a lot of time running on the treadmill) and the average amount of weight lost in a week is about 1-2 lbs!
• Don't make your diet too hard! Plan ahead, meal plan, but don't limit yourself to salads only. Actually, most salads have more calories and sodium than other foods which means you not only have more to burn but more salt to store water! Add fruit to your breakfast plan. Grill chicken for the week in advance and use a tasty marinade for flavor! There are tons of healthy recipes you can make yourself with little effort! It just takes a little creativity!
• Have fun. If you aren't doing something you like, you won't go back. Find a fun spinning class, go to a karate class; don't be afraid to try new things or you won't find what's fun! Keeping it fun keeps you going!
• Just Nike it! Just go to the gym and do it. Stop procrastinating and go. Actually, quit reading this and go to the gym or park or somewhere and get active. Just go do it!!

Not good.

If you've asked me about my training lately, I may have mentioned the pains in my hip I've been having along with my sprained ankle. One of my worst fears is a stress fracture during this training.

Stress fracture + less training = not ready for half-marathon in February.

Now, normally when I go running, the pain in my hip disappears. It feels find and I feel great when I run. It's when I first start my run and right after I finish my run that I hurt. Except this morning, that is.

I couldn't run. I was doing a tempo run and had to quit. It felt like my hip was dislocating. So I started walking. I couldn't put weight on my hip. I was thinking, "I have to get some activity in!" so I got on the cross trainer. Not any better. So I went home and went to WebMD and read about stress fractures.

I'm going to take a few days off from running before my next long run cause what I saw on WebMD concerns me. Say a little prayer, eh?

See you at the starting line!

I am now officially registered for the Mercedes Half-Marathon on February 15, 2009!

I can't believe how close that is; it's just around the corner! I just hit the halfway mark of my training schedule so it's six weeks till race day! I'm so excited!

Talked to Trey just a minute ago; apparently the cousin is in town tonight and wants to meet for dinner. Now that the holidays are over, I just can't wait to get a side salad and watch them eat steaks!

Don't forget that you can go to these viewing spots (family! friends! hint! hint!).

America's First Federal Credit Union: 1200 4th Avenue North, 35203
Civil Rights Institute: 520 16th Street North, 35203
McWane Center: 200 19th Street North, 35203
B&A Warehouse: 1531 1st Avenue South, 35233
University of Alabama, Birmingham Arena: 617 13th Street South
Western Supermarket: 2230 Highland Avenue, 35205
Java and Jams: 321 20th Street North, 35203
V. Richards: 3916 Clairmont Avenue, 35222
Caldwell Park: Highland Avenue and NiazumaRushton Park
Avondale Park
Marconi Park
5 Points South district (Starbucks and the Original Pancake House)

Oh, and Mum, you're my emergency contact so make sure you turn on your cell!

1/2 a gift

This is one of the two gifts I won at our Supper Club Ornament Swap the other night. Isn't it pretty!

I had so much fun that night, cheating on my diet, chatting with my friends, catching up and stealing gifts. It was a blast! Can't wait to see everybody again next month!

I have a pretty quiet day ahead of me. Trey spent the night with his cousin in Birmingham last night. He won't be back till later today. I've just been tootling around the apartment, cleaning up a bit, eating egg whites and sipping on some Irish Breakfast tea. The weather is absolutely crazy in Alabama right now! It's a great day to stay inside and cuddled up to a blanket!

That being said, my plans are the opposite! I didn't have as good of a run as I wanted yesterday morning so I'm going to go outside and run again today. I plan on killing a few birds with one stone; get my first outside run, start getting used to running in cold weather since this is about how chilly it will be in February and I also want to get a better workout than yesterday in. Then I'll come home, fix another pot of tea probably, watch a few movies and wash some clothes. I may even drive around with my camera and get some new stuff. I went through my unedited files last night and, good grief, there is a lot of crappy stuff!

Wow - I really don't live an eventful life! But it is nice to have some time at home to myself every now and then and I'm glad my husband's been able to spend some time with the boys.

Success is not eating the leftovers

Oh! I am still so full from lunch today! Everything was delicious! Everybody who brought something did a great job! The smoked chicken was e.x.c.e.l.l.e.n.t!!!!!

Unfortunately, not all the Peanut Butter Balls got eaten so I'm taking some home with me. Looking on the bright side of that, there are enough left that I won't have to make another batch for my Mum's Christmas after all. I can just stick these in the freezer and thaw overnight in the refrigerator! Another reason for me not to eat them!

I did get some left over BBQ and some left over smoked chicken to eat. That will be a big help in getting back on the bandwagon. I didn't get any sauce but the chicken didn't need the sauce! It fell right off of the bone! It was perrrrfect! And my dear, sweet husband can have the BBQ; I'll even make him some white BBQ sauce to go with it.

Also, I have some, maybe a serving, of my casserole left. Trey can eat that for lunch one day this week if I can keep him out of the fast food line. Not a lot of people are brave enough to try my cooking and what I can cook is limited. That means Trey's menu from Restaurant Stephanie is limited to about....oh....5 items? Chicken and rice casserole, chicken tacos, pork and rice casserole, ham wraps and...and...um....OK 4 items are on my menu!

Needless to say, he gets a little tired of redundancy and is scared to try my food when I experiment. In my defense, I haven't burnt anything in at least a month and I haven't technically set anything on fire in two years! So I am getting better!!

Just to let you know, I only had one piece of the big "O" cake-- come think of it, I don't think I even ate the whole piece! I'm still stuffed though! What I missed in caloric intake from the cake I made up for with the chicken and rice casserole, hash brown casserole, dip, chips, bite of brownie, bite of peanut butter cake and peanut butter balls. I lost count with the peanut butter balls.

Soooo...I have some running to do Friday...

Honesty

con-fes-sion   /kənˈfɛʃən/ Show
Spelled Pronunciation [kuhn-fesh-uhn] Show IPA
Pronunciation
–noun
1.acknowledgment; avowal; admission: a confession of incompetence.
2.acknowledgment or disclosure of sin or sinfulness, esp. to a priest to
obtain absolution.
3.something that is confessed.
4.a formal, usually written, acknowledgment of guilt by a person accused of a crime.
5.Also called confession of faith. a formal profession of belief and acceptance of doctrines, as before being admitted to church membership.
6.the tomb of a martyr or confessor or the altar or shrine connected with it.

7. I deviated from my diet plan last night and plan to do it again today.

So I have to admit something. I had the Shrimp Cypress Inn at Cypress Inn last night. I know, I know! How horrible! I've done so good! But I thought, "I have done so good! I need a reward!" so I ordered it! And I enjoyed it!!!


I had a really bad run this morning. I got very frustrated and just quit. I know, I know! I shouldn't quit! I'm blaming the bad run on the Shrimp Cypress Inn. Excuses! Excuses! The real reason I got frustrated was because I couldn't get my breathing in a rhythm and when I did, I'd have other problems. Plus, my iPod is out of juice and I'm already bored enough on the treadmill. I think I'm going to have to move my runs outside sooner than I thought. I'm going to have to find a running partner, too. The epiphany of running outside by myself doesn't sound that great.

In the meantime, today is our Christmas dinner at the dealership. All that gooey, yummy goodness. I had already planned on allowing myself to splurge today. It's really tough to ignore the BBQ, the potato salads, mashed potatoes, hash brown casseroles (I'm noticing a potato theme, here), slaw, the Orgasm cake from Thanksgiving, the peanut butter balls I made, my chicken casserole (Thanks, Paula!!), the pies, the macaroni and cheese, the dips, the chips - Oh! There is so much stuff to tempt me!

Don't chide me! I don't plan on eating everything! Moderation is key! I know that! I won't have the sauce, I won't have the potatoes, probably - well maybe the hash brown casserole - I'm only sticking to a piece AND I MEAN A PIECE of the Orgasm cake. I'll be a good cheater! Just consider my diet for the last three weeks: salad, sweet potatoes - no butter, chicken, chicken, salad, chicken, oranges, bananas, oatmeal, chicken, egg whites, chicken, protein shakes, chicken, salad and chicken!

I think this will be good for me. Help strengthen my resolve, maybe move me over this boredom hump AND give me some more incentive to push myself harder in the gym!

In the garden of Eden...

This training is so hard. List of things that I've been tempted by in the last several days that I have resisted!

1. Donuts
2. Chocolate covered donuts
3. Chocolate covered cream-fill donuts GASP!!!
4. Peterbrooke Chocolatiere chocolate including but not limited to: chocolate covered oreos, milk chocolate, chocolate covered nutter butters, etc. etc.
5. Caramel Apples my husband made and left in the refrigerator
6. Assorted candies at the movie theatre
7. Reese's Pieces
8. Hot dogs
9. Sandwich bread
10. Sugar coated pecans that my husband made

Thank you! Now pat me on the back!

If it can, it will

I got a great work out in at the gym this morning. So good that I lost track of the time and had to run in the shower before I'd be any later for work.

I ran in the locker room, sorted out my shower gear, slipped out of my sweaty gym clothes and dashed into the shower. As soon as I was done, I started drying off. First my hair - since it's so thick I have to start drying as soon as I'm done. Then the rest of me.

I wrapped the towel around me and headed to my shower bag to grab my baby powder and deoderant. For some reason, I thought I'd do things a bit differently today. Instead of smelling good first, I thought I'd blast my hair some with the hair dryer and then deoderize. I plugged in my hairdryer and got started.

I turned my head upside-down, feeling the hot air through my damp fingertips and hair. I then turned my head up and continued brushing my hair with the tips of my fingers. Accidentally, I kept hitting the "cool" button on the back of my hairbrush. It got me tickled because I noticed how the lights would get brighter whenever I pushed it. I have to admit, it made me a little distracted; I kept hitting the "cool" button! That's when I noticed the bright flash of light.

Out of the corner of my eye, whenever I'd hit the button, the fire alarm would light up. I really thought it was my hairdryer tripping this light. So I hit the button some more. Then the light was out of sync with my hairdryer and I realized that the fire alarm was really going off!

Oh, shit! I'm naked! was my first thought. The second was Did my hairdryer do that? Nooo...

So I did what any normal human being standing naked in the gym locker room playing with their hair dryer would do: I kept getting ready for work! I combed out my hair, put in some mousse, laid out my make-up, etc. etc. Finally, the alarm started talking. It said, in so many words, "The alarm sensor has been tripped. Calmly walk to the nearest exit, please."

Well, I couldn't. I'm still wrapped in a big, red beach towel!

So what do I do now? was my next thought. I'm the only female in the locker room. Surely if this is a real emergency, somebody will knock and tell me to get out of here!

Then I did what any normal human being standing naked in the gym locker room listening to the fire alarm would do: I got my clothes on and walked out to the floor barefoot with my hair wet to find out what was going on.

I found two groups of people. The first group was the biggest. They were ignoring the alarm and working out. The second wasn't really a group. It was three people. Two employees and a member. One employee was on the phone with the alarm company while the other was laughing at me and the member was asking me why the alarm was going off. I had several thoughts at one time. They go as follows:

Oh, it's tripped.
Oh, they're trying to fix it by the phone.
Do I look like I'm holding a magic 8 ball lady? I'm standing half-dressed and barefoot lady!
False alarm.
God, I hope it wasn't my hairdryer!

I finished getting ready and headed to my car. I just kept my head down in case it was my hairdryer and I was not going to get caught!! I got to my car, looked up and saw the air conditioning people, apologizing profusely about tripping the fire alarm.

Cruel and Unusual

Text message from Trey: Go get Los Torascos for dinner. (FYI - That's my fav restaurant IN THE WORLD!!! It's Mexican, fried, cheesy, crunchy, chickeny, yummy, scrumptious, delicious, fuzzy-feeling-in-the-stomach good! And bad for my training diet.)

Me: I can't eat that.

T: I can.

Me: Then go get it yourself. Are you torturing me???

Trey didn't respond.

Me: Did you get Los Torascos?

T: No.

Meaning?
I get to stand in Los Torascos tonight to pick up my dear, sweet, loving, never-would-let-me-get-tempted husband's dinner.

When you give yourself lemons and you can't drink the lemonade...

Training is hard. It's very hard work.

When I first started talking about doing this half-marathon with my husband, he said, "Whatever." I tried to explain to him how much I was going to need his support, I knew in the back of my head that this would be hard. Little did I know how hard this really was going to be!

When you think of training to run, you think, "Oh, it's just running! You add miles everyday! You'll get conditioned to running that far!"

The thing is, it's not just the running. I'm not a very fast runner, never have been and don't really care if I ever become one. I just enjoy running. It's not just being conditioned to running miles and miles at a time. My body will get there no matter how hard I have to push myself! There are other parts to this training.

Every morning, I wake up at 5:00 am, get up at 5:15, dress and head to the gym. I run my assignment and then circuit train for at least another 30-45 minutes. In total, I'm working out almost 2 hours straight a day.

Then there is the wear and tear on my body. My ankle has a very mild sprain . It's not inhibiting me but it is annoying. When I get home at night, it's very sore, especially if I stand flat-footed. I have to be super-careful when I walk and stand as I don't want to get a serious injury. The blame for that is the bad shoes I was wearing. Not only did I get the sore ankle, I also have quarter-sized blisters on my feet still healing up. Fortunately, those don't hurt anymore! Thank God for my new shoes!

Now to the mental portion of this training. I am on a treadmill, staring at a monitor telling me how far I've run while I, the OCD one, start counting backwards to see how much further I have to go! After twenty minutes of this, my mind is bored and I need something else for my gaze. Thing is, when I look straight ahead, there is a clock straight directly in my line of site like a bull's eye. The TVs in the cardio theatre, as wonderful as they are for helping me zone out, are fixed from the ceiling, so I have to crane my neck slightly upward to see them. Not always the most comfortable stance while running. So to solve a few of these problems as best I know how, I take a magazine and place it over the monitor and turn my iPod up as loud as I can stand it. That lasts until my ears get so sweaty the earphones won't stay in anymore. I have to go get some more ear buds! I'm literally pushing myself through some of these long runs. It's not fun when you're bored.

Last on this list, and most certainly not least, is my diet. Any trainer will tell you that it doesn't matter how much work you do in the gym, how much activity you get, how many calories you burn; none of the effort is worth it if you don't eat right. I've had to change my diet a bit and it's very frustrating. I feel like I don't know what's OK to eat anymore! Used to be easy: no breads unless wheat, sweet potatoes, lean proteins, egg yolks were OK, protein, protein, protein! I could eat a few sweets in moderation, and I mean moderation! I could enjoy my breakfast of eggs, bacon and grits from the Texaco station!

Now? Egg whites, carbs closer to long run days, protein shakes after runs (and these protein shakes are N.A.S.T.Y!), bananas (no trots, please!), oranges for the vitamin C, supplements for more fat loss. Chicken on a salad is OK, but I really need to be eating the dressings I can't stand, like vinaigrette's! Tuna for more protein. Flavorless, bland food.

I have lean up quick so I don't have to run with so much weight on me in February! I'm chunky! I'm strong, but I'm chunky! - And I have to lose it! It's so hard to eat right when you're hungry all the time! I feel like a weight trainer that's allowed to eat carbs.

Let's just top that off with Ed's mama baking brownies and bringing them to the dealership. The delicious, moist, chocolate treat is oh so good. Jessica, I hoped you really enjoyed them. The sweet tarts in my pocket that I want to choke down but can't. I didn't buy them, so don't be disappointed. I only had, maybe, 4 of them. Brooke didn't like them and gave them to me. I love sour! I'm sticking them in my desk drawer as a reward after race day! And never forget that my Reese's Pieces are sitting in a plastic container in the storage closet waiting for me to drop my $.50 in the change box so I can claim them as mine. Oh...so tempting...

Not all of my days are hard. I have moments like this morning, when my easy run felt super easy. It was one of those moments where a week ago, I had to push myself. I think of how hard it was and feel so proud to see that it's getting easier and easier the harder I work. I have days where I'm not hungry every minute of every day. That's not today, by the way! I am hearing more people compliment me on how much better I'm starting to look, how they can tell I'm losing weight. I'm hearing people say they wished they could try to do what I'm doing. Little do they know that I wish they would so I wouldn't be so alone in this!

So, no, not every day is a hard day. But the harder days are getting closer and closer together. That's why I when I talked to Trey about this, I wanted him to understand why this was so important, so big, so far-reaching. I wanted him to understand this, I wanted my friends to understand, I wanted my family to understand. Its imperative to understand in order to support. I'm so grateful that I have my husband, friends and family and their support. That doesn't mean you can eat Ed's Mama's brownies in front of me.

If you wondered why this was such a big deal before, now I hope you understand, too, that this is foremost the most challenging thing I've ever done. I believe in myself that I can finish this but I also have to know that I have my friends and family cheering me along as I go.

From where are you going to watch?

This is from the marathon website:

This year's course is VERY spectator friendly as it is a double loop course
for the full marathon. Some of the best places that we have found for watching
are:
America's First Federal Credit Union: 1200 4th Avenue North, 35203
Civil Rights Institute: 520 16th Street North, 35203
McWane Center: 200 19th Street North, 35203
B&A Warehouse: 1531 1st Avenue South, 35233
University of Alabama, Birmingham Arena: 617 13th Street
SouthWestern Supermarket: 2230
Highland Avenue, 35205
Java and Jams: 321 20th Street North, 35203
V. Richards: 3916 Clairmont Avenue, 35222
Caldwell Park: Highland Avenue and Niazuma
Rushton Park
Avondale Park
Marconi Park
5 Points South district (Starbucks and the Original Pancake House)

So pick your viewing spot. I'm going to race the half-marathon on February 15, 2009. Let me know where I need to look so I can wave!

Something I've always wanted to do...

I was talking to a friend of mine on Facebook last night and she put an idea in my head. Scary, I know!

I think I am going to run in a half-marathon.

I'm not absolutely positive yet. There is a lot, and I mean A LOT, of work I have to do to get ready for 13 miles. In downtown B'ham...around hills...

Something to think about. You think I can do it?